In the four years of making
Broadcast Blues, I found that the Federal Communications Commission, the
federal agency tasked with oversight of the broadcast airwaves, was
completely ignoring the public. The key thread of the film surrounds the
public's petitions to deny station licenses. (Most people don't know
that we own the airwaves, and we can petition to have a station's
license taken away.) At one point, an FCC media rep told me they do not
keep track of these petitions, and had no idea when the last station's
license was removed. (Not recently, obviously.) That forced me
into filing a Freedom of Information Act Request with the FCC in July,
2007, to discover how many petitions to deny licenses have been filed in
recent years, and to discover when the last petition to remove a
license was successful. The FCC never answered (They are required by
law to respond within 20 business days.) Four months later, I
complained about it in person to the FCC Commissioners at a formal
hearing in Seattle, Washington, and handed a copy to the FCC personnel
attending the hearing. Still no reply.But after one
public showing of Broadcast Blues in Sacramento, the public rose up with
letters to the FCC, asking why citizens have to sue the government to
make it do its job. The FCC responded that they had never received a
FOIA request from me. Unfortunately for them, I had sent the request
via certified mail to two members of the FCC, and had signatures to
prove it.Now the FCC is apologizing, and
asking that I resubmit the FOIA request. I have done so. How long
will it take to get the information? I am not holding my breath.

Update:

The FCC finally did respond to me in writing. It turns out their rep was correct: The FCC has no records of how many station licenses are currently being challenged, nor do they have records of the last time a license was taken away.

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About Me

Sue Wilson tells important stories which move politicians to act. She is the Emmy winning director of the media reform documentary "Broadcast Blues" and editor of SueWilsonReports.com.
Broadcast Blues sets its sights on media policy, and www.SueWilsonReports.com turns a critical eye on the media itself.
She recently formed an activist site, http://www.MediaActionCenter.net